CURRICULUM VITAE

Michael Forster studied physics at the Georg-August-University of Göttingen and the Laser-Laboratorium Göttingen e.V. (all Germany). His diploma thesis focused on developing ultrashort pulse lasers and measuring laser pulses generated by such systems. He was awarded a summa cum laude doctoral degree for his work in the field of nuclear fusion plasmas at the Heinrich-Heine-University of Dusseldorf and the Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH. Dr. Forster published his scientific results in respected peer-reviewed journals such as Nuclear Fusion, Physics of Plasmas and Applied Optics. He presented his work at various international conferences and was invited to speak on several occasions.

In 2013 he launched his career in the field of intellectual property rights in our team in Dusseldorf. Since then, he has employed his extensive technical and legal knowledge in the areas of trademarks, designs, utility models and patents, such as for identifying inventions, drafting patent applications, patent prosecution, opposition proceedings and freedom to operate analyses in a broad range of technology areas including medical devices, packaging and food industries as well as materials science.

LANGUAGES

German and English

CURRICULUM VITAE

Ansgar Hakvoort studied chemistry and law at the Universities of Marburg, Münster and Hagen (all Germany). He was awarded a summa cum laude doctoral degree for the development of an in vitro brain barrier system from the Westfälische Wilhelms University of Munster. Following post-doctoral research in the Institute of Neurochemistry at Brown University (Rode Island USA), he moved to the field of intellectual property, joining the team in the Dusseldorf Office in 2001. Dr. Hakvoort obtained an LL.M in European Intellectual property law.

His main areas of expertise include the protection and defense of inventions as well as litigation, opinion work and oppositions, mainly in the field of life sciences, medical devices, biochemistry, genetic engineering, pharmaceuticals and polymer chemistry.

LANGUAGES

German and English

CURRICULUM VITAE

Martin Herzog studied chemistry and law at the Philipps-Universität Marburg, University of Hagen (all Germany) and University of Strasbourg (France), polymer science and engineering at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst (USA), graduating with an M.Sc., before obtaining a doctorate at the Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung (Germany). He started his career in the field of intellectual property in 1993 and has worked in Dusseldorf in private practice since 2000. Dr. Herzog obtained an LL.M in European Intellectual property law as well as a DESU in Patent Litigation in Europe.

Martin Herzog has worked as a management consultant, in IP law firms and in the pharmaceutical and chemical industry as head of a patent department. His areas of expertise include in particular the protection, defense, licensing and litigation of inventions, mainly in the fields of pharmaceuticals, chemistry, mechanics, medical devices, optics, material sciences and process technology as well as in strategic IP management, due diligence and freedom to operate analyses, and in patent-related work for mergers and acquisitions as well as German employee inventors law.

LANGUAGES

German, English

TEACHING

Lecturing modules at the course on Patent Litigation in Europe at CEIPI (Centre d’Etudes Internationales de la Propriété Intellectuelle, Université de Strasbourg).

In the 2018 WirtschaftsWoche-Rating by the Handelsblatt Research Institute in the field of patent law Martin Herzog was recommended as a leading patent attorney.

CURRICULUM VITAE

Gareth Jones studied chemistry with a particular emphasis on theoretical physical chemistry to obtain a Master of Chemistry degree at the University of Oxford (England) and conducted research there in theoretical physics. Following his studies, he was engaged in the construction and development of the IT systems at the UK Ministry of Justice. He then began his career in the field of intellectual property in 2012 in our team.
Gareth Jones’s principal areas of expertise as European and Irish patent attorney include in particular the protection and defense of inventions in the fields of chemistry, physics, electronics, information technology, software, medical devices and engineering, as well as opposition proceedings for patents in these technical areas.

LANGUAGES

English, German, Spanish and Italian

CURRICULUM VITAE

Ingo Neuner studied chemistry at the University of Freiburg (Germany), at the Polymer Science and Engineering Department of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst (USA) and at the University of Mainz (Germany). He graduated with a diploma in chemistry from Freiburg, before obtaining a doctorate degree from the University of Mainz for his work on hyperbranched biodegradable polymers. In 2006, Ingo Neuner started his career in the field of intellectual property in the patent department of Henkel KGaA in Dusseldorf. In 2007, he joined the team in Dusseldorf. Ingo Neuner obtained DESU in Patent Litigation in Europe from CEIPI (Centre d’Etudes Internationales de la Propriété Intellectuelle, Université de Strasbourg).

His areas of expertise include in particular the protection, defense and licensing of inventions in chemistry, polymer and materials sciences and process technology as well as the protection and defense of trademarks and designs as well as German employee inventors law matters.

LANGUAGES

German, English, French and Portuguese

CURRICULUM VITAE

Robert Schatzl chose to enter the field of Industrial Property Law following his study in Electrical Engineering and Law at universities in Berlin, Marburg and Darmstadt and his research work at the Fraunhofer Institute for Energy Economics and Energy System Technology in Kassel. He has formed part of our team since 2021.

Robert Schatzl’s most important technical areas include Electronics, Information Technology, Software and Energy System Technology.

LANGUAGES

German, English

CURRICULUM VITAE

After his undergraduate studies of physics, mathematics and applied mathematics, Michael Vorster obtained a Master of Science with distinction in high energy physics. North-West University, Potchefstroom (South Africa) awarded to him a Ph.D. in high energy astrophysics. After being engaged in the IT industry in the financial and advertising sector as well as two post-doctoral scholarships in astrophysics at Purdue University in the US and Potsdam University (Germany), Michael Vorster began in 2019 his career in the field of intellectual property in our team.

Michael Vorster’s principal areas of expertise include in particular drafting and prosecuting inventions in the fields of physics, electronics, information technology, software, medical devices and engineering.

LANGUAGES

English, Afrikaans and German

CURRICULUM VITAE

Shanshan Zou studied physics at Tsinghua University (China). She was awarded a summa cum laude doctoral degree for her work in the field of pulsed confocal unstable optical parametric oscillators. She published her scientific results in respected peer-reviewed journals such as Optics Express, Applied Optics and Applied Physics. She presented her work at various international conferences.

In 2005, Shanshan Zou launched her career in the field of intellectual property in a Chinese patent law firm. She qualified as a Chinese Patent Attorney in 2007 and then as a Chinese Attorney-at-Law in 2013. After having attained a wealth of knowledge and experience in Chinese patent practice, she joined a German patent law firm in 2016 and thus extended her expertise to European and German patent prosecution and litigation and to European and German trademark and design registration.

Her areas of expertise include in particular drafting and prosecuting inventions in the fields of software and data processing, electronics, information technology, telecommunications, optical detection and semiconductor technologies.

LANGUAGES

Chinese, English and German